Training in most team sports often requires a minimum of two people, for example, a passer (e.g., a thrower or kicker) and a receiver. This often leads to many players not being able to practice to the extent they would like and therefore not achieving the level of proficiency they desire. Furthermore, the passer typically has to pass a high number of times to the receiver, which can be physically taxing and not frequently done to maintain the athlete's performance during games.
In many sports, including football, some inventions began to appear in the 1980's to help alleviate these issues. In particular, some machines were created to consistently throw balls to a set location. Another player would still have to feed balls into the machine, and set up the machine to fire to a certain location, with a certain speed and angle, but it was physically far less taxing to the player than to constantly throw the ball. This quickly became popular in training facilities.
Known devices for simulating throwing a football to an athlete are generally characterized by having to manually adjust the rotation of the throwing machine, adjust the angle at which the ball will be released, and adjusting the speed of the rotor wheels, which is proportional to the release velocity of the ball. The ball throwing devices heretofore require a user to approximate the position of the moving receiver, and time the release of the ball to deliver an accurate ball. This process presents many difficulties in receiving an accurate ball, setting the system up for use, and performing the task in a time-efficient manner.